Feedback helps top court upgrade case database

Following suggestions from national lawmakers, China's top court upgraded its judicial case database last year to include a broader range of cases, particularly those involving technological innovation and business development, in order to better serve the public and respond to their needs through the justice system.

Li Hui, a deputy to the National People's Congress from the business sector, was among those who made the suggestion. As a researcher, she has a keen understanding of the relationship between the rule of law and innovation, and remains highly aware of the legal risks associated with the rapid advancement of cutting-edge technologies as well as the judicial needs of market entities.

"An efficient, transparent and predictable rule-of-law environment is crucial for unleashing the potential of innovation," Li said, praising the judicial case database opened by the Supreme People's Court in February 2024. The platform helps standardize adjudication nationwide and strengthen legal education.

During her tenure, Li found that the database still had shortcomings in serving emerging fields such as technological innovation. "Some hot-button issues remained unaddressed, and the inclusion of new types of cases was delayed," she said, adding that many new cases also took a long time from filing to judgment.

"If these judgments are not promptly included in the database, their exemplary effect is diminished," she said. "For instance, disputes over data compliance, algorithm ethics and digital intellectual property are increasing among tech companies. The scarcity of relevant notable cases leaves enterprises without clear expectations when innovating."

She therefore called for optimizing the database during the third plenary session of the 14th National People's Congress in 2025, aiming to better serve the needs of tech enterprises and other market entities.

Based on her front-line observations, visits to tech companies and universities, and discussions with researchers and legal teams, she also called for the establishment of a "fast-track channel" for high-profile and emerging cases. She suggested broadening the scope of case inclusion, with a focus on areas related to national strategies such as technological innovation, the digital economy and green low-carbon development.

In addition, she advocated actively incorporating feedback from lower courts, tech companies, industry associations and research institutions. She also stressed the importance of highlighting landmark cases that address industry challenges and provide clearer guidance for innovators.

"We need not just 'any cases', but 'good cases, new cases and practical cases'," she said.

Last year, Yan Jianguo, an NPC deputy and Beijing-based lawyer, put forward a similar suggestion, urging the judicial case database to include more landmark rulings from emerging sectors.

He compared the platform to a legal library for scholars and a reliable ally for lawyers navigating complex disputes, and advocated greater inclusion of cases in highly specialized fields — particularly intellectual property, environmental resources and finance. Doing so, he said, would better meet the needs of modern legal practice and provide clearer, more practical guidance for judges handling increasingly complex cases.

Yan also suggested further enhancing the database's intelligent capabilities, specifically by upgrading its search system to improve both precision and smart functions, such as AI-powered filtering, semantic understanding and personalized recommendations.

The Supreme People's Court paid close attention to the suggestions from the deputies and promptly took measures to expand case coverage and strengthen collaboration, significantly improving the timeliness and guidance of judicial services.

During the optimization process, the top court held multiple in-depth discussions with Li and Yan to better understand their opinions. It also conducted field research and collected a wide range of opinions from enterprises, academic institutions and judicial practitioners, aiming to make the database upgrade more comprehensive.

"Now the database is not only 'available', but also 'new', 'accurate' and 'dynamic'," Li said.

Data from the top court shows that as of Feb 2, the database included 5,332 cases, expanding beyond traditional civil, criminal and administrative matters to cover pressing legal issues such as environmental resources, intellectual property and minor protection.

The database has also been applied in more than 3,000 governance centers across the country, providing reference judicial solutions for local mediation work, according to the top court.

caoyin@chinadaily.com.cn